Nicolás Andrés Grau Veloso (born 9 April 1983) is a Chilean

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and

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who has been Chile's Minister of Minister of Economy, Development and Tourism since 11 March 2022.

Biography

Grau is the son of Francisco Grau Mascayano and Paulina Veloso, the former Secretary-General of the Presidency during

Michelle Bachelet Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria (; born 29 September 1951) is a Chilean politician who served as President of Chile from 2006 to 2010 and again from 2014 to 2018, becoming the first woman to hold the presidency. She was re-elected in December ...

's first government (2006−2010). Despite being born in Concepción, at a young age he moved with his family to

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. In Chile's capital city, Grau attended basic and secondary education at the Raimapu School in La Florida. He completed his BA at the

Universidad de Chile The University of Chile () is a public research university in Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the co ...

Faculty of Economics and Business (FEN), in which he served as president of the

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(FECh) from 2005 to 2006. Similarly, he was publicly questioned for the failed celebration of the FECh first centenary, where were lost around $120 million pesos. In 2011, he studied a

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at the University of Chile. Then, he did a Ph.D. −also in economics− at the

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, in

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Political career

Parallel to his position as president of the FECh, Grau was a member of the Izquierda Amplia, which grouped the Assembly of Students of the Left, the New University Left —to which he belonged— and the SurDa movement. He had a prominent role as a university leader in the 2006 student mobilization. Also, he was a member of the Presidential Advisory Council on Education. Grau has worked as a scholar at the FEN. Also, he is a researcher at the Center for Studies on Conflict and Social Cohesion (COES). In 2017, Grau participated in the foundation of the Broad Front (FA) coalition. Similarly, from 2016, he was a member of the Autonomist Movement (MA), which merged into

Social Convergence The Social Convergence (, CS) was a left-wing political party in Chile. Founded by current Chilean president Gabriel Boric, it is now led by Diego Ibáñez. It was co-founded in 2018 by the Autonomist Movement (MA), Libertarian Left (IL) (a ...

led by the then deputy

Gabriel Boric Gabriel Boric Font (; born 11 February 1986) is a Chilean politician and the President of Chile since 2022. He previously served two four-year terms as a deputy in the Chamber of Deputies of Chile, Chamber of Deputies. Boric first gained prom ...

, also leader of the MA. In that way, Grau was part of the presidential campaigns of Beatriz Sánchez (

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) and Boric, who won the 2021 elections against

José Antonio Kast José Antonio Kast Rist (born 18 January 1966), also known by his initials JAK, is a Chilean lawyer and politician. He is running for president in the 2025 Chilean general election, for the third time. Part of the prominent Kast family, he se ...

. On 22 January 2022, Grau was appointed Minister of Economy, Development, and Tourism by the elected president Boric. On 11 March, he assumed the office alongside Boric. In August 2022, already as minister, He was widely questioned for saying, in a context of high inflation, "Inflation brings costs and benefits to SMEs, unlike individuals," sayings that provoked anger in unions of small and medium-sized companies, as well as parliamentarians demanding their undergraduate and graduate degrees. As minister Grau has faced severe criticism for his use of

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in 2020 and 2021 where he made hateful comments against Chilean police. In relation to the death of Francisco Martínez in February 2021 Grau wrote: "Murderous cops. The people have the right to hate you" (). In face of mounting criticism in October 2022 Grau deleted the tweets and said that "that these were said in specific context" adding that "I do not share hese commentsnow".

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Grau, Nicolás 1983 births Living people 21st-century Chilean economists 21st-century Chilean politicians Members of the Autonomist Movement Social Convergence politicians Frente Amplio (Chile) politicians University of Chile alumni University of Pennsylvania alumni Ministers of economy of Chile